It was months of recesses and lunch breaks spent working but last week the cast and crew of Frozen JR. made up of students from grades three to eight and several staff put off a much lauded production of the musical based on the hit animated movie.
“We started this production back before Christmas, we held auditions and the kids have been working since January during their nutrition breaks,” Said director/choreographer Lisa Latimer. “Since April they’ve been doing after school practices.”
The show was the first one St. Mary school has done since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down an initial attempt at Frozen JR in the spring of 2020.
Latimer also praised the other staff on the team, technical director Ken Brown, Music Director Amy Lafroy, assistant director Mike Brady and Costume Designer Lacey Carlson.
“The kids have put their hearts and their souls (into it,)” Latimer said. “They’ve helped each other, they’ve lifted each other up, they’ve supported each other through this whole process and I couldn’t be more proud of the effort and the talent that they’re showing us.”
Marina Jarvis and Abi Matheson played Elsa and Anna, the central characters of the show. Both agreed that memorizing lines was hard.
“We live right by each other so we’d walk over to each other’s houses and do our lines,” Matheson said.
Asked what they would do with their breaks with the show rapping up and getting their recess periods back they’re excited to get back to playing outside.
“Playing basketball,” Jarvis said is what she’s most looking forward to.
“Basketball, baseball, anything,” Matheson added.
Students weren’t only involved on stage, they were involved behind the scenes as well.
Campbell Sether was one of the students on the light crew he’s been involved with lights at Kids and Company before.
“It was pretty fun, all my classmates got to watch and I get to brag now,” he said.
The teachers at St. Mary hope to continue offering kids the opportunity to be involved in theatre projects. The hope is to resume alternating between plays and musicals as they did before the pandemic.
– Allan Bradbury photos
